“And I heard you turn him down. Can we go in now?”
“You arrogant bastard!”
Hank should have interrupted and set things straight, but he really hated being accused then ignored. So he let Amy have at him.
“How dare you eavesdrop on a private conversation?”
Hank winced at the anger in her tone.
“I wasn’t eavesdropping; I was merely coming to get you. Can we please get back to work now?”
Amy turned on Ry with fire in her eyes. Hank knew Ry would never forgive him for what she was about to do, but the pig headed idiot brought it on himself.
“So then you missed the part where I asked him out! Hank, I seriously think you should reconsider my offer to go out. You couldn’t be more wrong in your assessment. I’ll be in as soon as I get some privacy to make my phone call. If you’ll excuse me!”
Hank watched as she walked away. He saw the pain she tried valiantly to hide from them.
“Thanks a lot partner.”
“Hey! Whoa! Hold up. You came in on the tail end of a conversation. You have no idea what we were discussing,” Hank said.
“You knew exactly how I felt about Amy, but that didn’t stop you from moving in on her the moment I was out of favor.” Ry laughed. “In a situation you created none the less. Bravo, partner.”
Hank rubbed his eyes tiredly; he’d had enough. “You’re crazy! Absolutely loco, pal.”
“Am I?” Ry stood his ground.
“Ry stop sulking and start listening.”
“Well? I’m listening.”
Hank looked at him at a loss for words. He knew he could never betray the doc’s trust. “I wish I could tell you what we talked about. But I can’t.”
“Why don’t you just date her, Hank? That seems to be what you both want.”
Hank turned to leave and started back for the precinct. “That’s it. I’m going back inside before you truly have a meltdown. I would never poach on someone my best friend is interested in. No matter what you seem to think.”
***
Ry sat on the curbside, running his hand over the spot Amy had just vacated. He wondered exactly where he’d gone wrong. Hell, Amy was pissed at him. A new experience for him, one he found he truly did not enjoy. Then he went and made certain Hank would get royally ticked off. He was such a jerk. He had alienated the only two people he needed in his corner to succeed in this case.
“We start in five minutes, detective, whether you’re there or not.”
Hearing her voice, Ry reached out for her. “Amy, can we talk for a minute?”
Amy stepped back, avoiding his hand. “No offense, detective, but you’d be better off waiting until I calm down a little.”
“Will I? Or will you go do something reckless in revenge?” He realized the minute the words were out, he’d made a mistake.
“One thing you had better learn about me, detective, and learn it well. I do not do revenge on any person for any reason. I didn’t run out to have an affair when my husband cheated on me, and I will not make false accusations against you now. You were insensitive and cruel earlier.”
He watched as her anger evaporated to nothing.
Amy sank down onto the curb beside him, her energy sapped. One of the many things he adored about her was she didn’t get angry often, never without good reason and never for long.
“Why did you say those things?”
Ry hung his head in shame. “Would you believe stupidity?”
“Yes! But it’s more than that. It almost sounded like irrational jealousy.”
Busted
, he thought suddenly feeling nervous. “Amy, I think—” Seeing Hank leaning out the window, Ry wanted to kill him for the second time that night. “Doc, the boys are getting restless. You better get up here.”
“Coming, Hank. Ry, we’ll talk later. We really should go up now before the rumors start.”
“Right.” If he sounded as skeptical as he felt, Amy wouldn’t buy that agreement at all.
***
Walking into the room, Amy slipped right back into her doctor mode as Ry was fond of calling it. “So what have you come up with?”
“They all have long hair but one,” Tanner volunteered.
Suck up
, Ry thought with disgust. “Anything else?”
“According to the reports, they had all just broken up with their boyfriends.”
Amy looked up at the officer who pointed out that information, sizing him up. She didn’t know this man. “Time period?”
“Within five days.”
Pieces of the killer’s personality started falling into place in her head. “So they’re lonely? Heartbroken? Who dumped whom?”
“They kicked the guys to the curb, according to their girl friends.”
Amy sat down and started jotting the points down on her legal pad for further review. Just like she knew Hank was noting them on the board for the officers to look over later. “So, not heartbroken. Reasons for the break-ups?”
“What difference could that possibly make?”
Seeing Ry step forward, Amy gave him a nod to go ahead.
“The difference, Tanner, is that if the men were dumped because they had been unfaithful, that implies he’s using their obvious pain to his advantage.”
“Exactly right, Ry. But if they broke up because the girls have met someone new—”
“That implies previous contact and planning. Brilliant, Amy, we can track that.” Amy watched Ry make a note on his writing pad to have someone look into that possibility.
“Now—” She knew her cheeks were beet red from blushing at the compliment. “If the breakups were public—”
“Public how, Doc?”
Amy grinned mischievously. “Hank, let’s say we were on a date at a bar and I caught you flirting with the waitress. I see you taking her phone number and slipping it into your pocket. That would be a very public breakup.”
“No way would I flirt with any other woman with you on my arm, Doc,” Hank teased. “So that theory’s sunk.” Amy laughed at Hank’s grin. He’d caught her off guard and made her smile, the rat.
“You’d be surprise how quickly men take a beautiful woman for granted. But for arguments sake, we’ll say Tanner then. He’s young and impetuous where women are involved.”
Everyone laughed at her joke. Everyone but Ry, upset she hadn’t used him for her example, and Tanner, looking hurt being the brunt of the joke.
“Hey what gives?”
Amy’s grin widened. “Sorry, Tanner, I couldn’t resist.”
“That’s all right, Doc. I’ll take it to mean you would consider dating me.”
Amy laughed at his audacity.
“Moving on, people. Amy, we’ll need to check on that one. No one thought to ask if the breakups were private or public. I’ll assign that task to Tanner.”
“Ah geez. Doc, do me a favor. Don’t mention dating me anymore. Stevens doesn’t like it.”
The room erupted in laughter. Amy looked around at them with pride, knowing their laughter was their way of coping with the stress. They were bright, young and determined. She couldn’t ask for more. “So any other similarities?”
“Nope.”
Amy singled out the new kid in the back. “Eye color, hair, body type, clothing they were wearing?” She smiled when he didn’t disappoint her.
“Eyes are always blue or green. Hair’s been mostly brown but there was one blonde. Body type… Well look at that. They were all five foot six inches.”
“All of them?” That piece of information started the tumblers moving in her processing fast and strong.
“Each and every one. C cup to D cup, curvy, not fat or plump. Sort of like you, Doc. You’re what? Five foot six inches, D cup, with curves in all the right places, blue eyes and dark brown hair. Hey, Doc, how long is your hair?”
“Long,” she answered with a secretive grin. “So you’re telling me that I’m the perfect bait?”
“N
o,” Ry took a menacing step forward, letting his team know exactly what he thought of that idea. “No way. Forget it! Don’t even think about it. Moving on. What were they wearing, Morris?”
She had to get him to listen to reason. “Ry, it bears lis—”
“I said no!”
Morris must have sensed the tension in the room rise because he kept right on talking. “They were wearing very short dresses or skirts. Showing lots of cleavage.”
Amy could feel Tanner’s eyes on her without even looking up. The other’s it seemed sensed Ry’s anger and decided to become engrossed in their files. “Tanner, if you don’t want garbage duty next week, you’ll wipe that thought from your mind.”
Amy sat back and let them debate the issue for now.
“But, Stevens, look at her. She’s always wearing those skirts; okay not so much cleavage showing with the jacket, but without it? She said she had long hair. If she decided to go out to a pub tonight and he was there—”
Amy watched as Ry closed his eyes and wondered again why he was so against this plan, why didn’t he want to even consider it?
“The plan has merit, Ry.”
“Who?” Ry turned towards the voice, ready to let the man have a piece of his mind, and stopped cold when he saw his captain standing in the doorway. “Captain, she’s a doctor not a cop! Find me a cop who matches the criteria and I’ll consider it.”
Amy had never heard him sound so angry before.
“We don’t have any.”
The fact that Ry was so against the idea made Amy feel responsible to defend his stance. “Now, Captain, I’m sure you have a few beautiful female officers on the force if not in this department. I’m sure you could find one to volunteer.”
“Sorry, Doctor. We do, but none that match the stats you have on the board.”
“Who’s the closest?”
“Tara Reynolds. Five foot six inches tall, short blond hair, brown eyes, perhaps a B-cup, all in all not very curvy.”
Amy curbed her temper. “Do you have a picture so I can judge for myself? Pardon me, but your judgment seems a bit biased.”
“I’ll get her file.”
Once the captain left, she knew Ry wouldn’t be able to resist approaching her to talk her out of the thoughts going though her mind.
“Doc, one out of five is not good odds.”
Some days Amy wondered why men needed everything explained to them. “She has the right height. He’s gone for shorthaired blondes before. Contacts can change her eye color to either blue or green and a padded bra will give her the extra cleavage.”
“And the curves?”
“Curves? Really, guys, give the woman a Twinkie or two. The larger chest will make her look curvy,” she told them exasperated. “It’s her or me, detectives!”
“Do you like Twinkies, Doc?”
Amy sighed in defeat. Leave it to Hank to ask her that now. “Hank, darlin’, they are my one weakness.”
“Good to know you have one,” he teased, giving her a wink.
“Anything else jump out at you, officers?”
“Nothing we could see, Doc.”
“No patterns?”
“Nope. Sorry, Doc.”
Amy couldn’t believe they didn’t see it. The pattern had hit her the minute she’d tacked all the photos on the board. “Well then, let me add one more and we can call it quits for the evening. Look at the pictures and tell me what you see.”
“Seven very beautiful women.”
Amy laughed. “Thank you for the obvious, Tanner. What else do you see?”
“I don’t see anything else,” Tanner complained.
“Hank? Ry?”
“Sorry, Amy.”
“Yeah, Doc, maybe we’re being dense tonight, but what is it you’re seeing?”
Amy got up and walked over to the board. Touching each photo in turn she pointed out the pattern.
“Brunette, blue eyes. Brunette, green eyes. Brunette, blue eyes. Brunette, green eyes. Blond, blue eyes. Brunette, green eyes. I’d wager his next victim will be a brunette with blue eyes. As for this blonde woman, I think he settled. Either she fit his needs the nearest, or he was desperate and she was there. Then in his mind, he made up for her lack in looks by using even more brutal methods to torture and kill her and then choosing an even more beautiful woman for his next victim.”
While they were absorbing her statement, Amy went to find the captain to retrieve the officer’s photo who might fit the bill and pinned it on the wall. Stepping back, she tried to see her as the killer would. “She’ll do. All she’ll need is a little cosmetic help. We’ll just have to make certain she’s the best choice he has on the night of the sting. Do you have any clues as to where he might strike next or who this man might be? Does the victim know the killer or is he taking them through chance encounters?”
“Excuse me, Captain, but they found another one. Here’s the preliminary report.”
“Well, is she a brunette with blue eyes?” Amy asked when the rookie turned to leave.
“Yes, ma’am, she was.”
“Here. May as well put her up on the board with the rest.”
Amy took the photo and tacked it up beside the last victim, then stepped back to look at the board once again.
“So if the officer agrees, she’ll need green contact instead of blue.” Looking each man in the eye to get his attention, Amy sighed in exhaustion. “Well there’s nothing more we can do here tonight until the information on this new woman comes in and Tanner finds out about the break-ups.”
“You two go to the crime scene and see what you can learn,” Ry ordered. “The rest of you are dismissed. Go over what Amy told us tonight and see if you can think of anything else.”
“And make sure you all get some rest.”
“You heard my—the lady. Dismissed! Tanner, first thing in the morning, I want you to contact the ex-boyfriends and find out about the break-ups.”
“And Tanner,” Amy called out before he could leave. “See if they’re willing to give you a photo of them with the victim. I’ll take one of them alone if I have to.”
“Why?”
She could see his confusion over her strange request.
“Don’t ask why, Tanner, just do what Amy asks you to do.”
“Sure thing, Stevens. I just wanted to have a reason for asking them.”
Amy nodded. “Tell them we’re looking for a commonality. If I’m right, Tanner, you’ll know after the second or third guy what I’m looking for.”
Tanner grinned at her flirtatiously, causing Ry scowl to deepen. “I doubt it, but I’ll do what you ask.”
“Thanks.” Turning back to gather her things, Amy remembered that she didn’t have her car. The garage had picked it up during the break. “Hey, Hank, my car’s in the shop and since I live on your way home, I was wondering—”
“Sure, Doc. No problem. But I was planning on stopping for some Greek food on my way home. Care to join me?”
Amy sat down in relief. Hank knew her so well. “Food sounds wonderful. I didn’t want to have to cook tonight. Thanks.”
Seeing the anger and hurt on Ry’s face, she wasn’t surprised when Hank added. “Hey, partner, we’re going out for Greek. Want to join us?”
“I wouldn’t want to intrude.”
Amy angrily got up and walked over to retrieve her purse beside him. “Don’t be a bigger ass than you already are, Stevens. It isn’t a date,” she whispered angrily in his ear.
“In that case, I’d love to come along and since Hank gets to take you home later, you can ride with me to the restaurant. You promised we could talk.”
Amy shot him a glare at the underhanded was he manipulated her to get his way. “Fine with me. Ready?”
Amy sat in Ry’s car wishing she were anywhere but there. The determined frown on his face made her nervous. She so wasn’t ready for this talk. Maybe if I don’t say anything he’ll let the subject drop?
“Amy—”
Drats.
“Amy, I know you can hear me. You may as well talk to me.”
Amy sighed in defeat. “What did you want to talk about, Ry?”
“Us!”
“There is no us and there never can be.”
“Now you’re just being difficult. You were interested before Hank, damn him to the seventh dimension of hell, told you I still had a girlfriend. Which I don’t!”
She wanted to look at him and drink him in. The urge to do just that pulled at her until it hurt. But a married woman did not string nice, decent men like Ry Stevens along. Well she didn’t. It went against everything she believed in. She’d come home to British Columbia, when Hank told her about the job opening. All she wanted was to let her heart mend. She never dreamed she’d find a man like Ry Stevens. “I realized it could never work out between us. I’m not your type, Ry. You deserve a woman who’s willing to make herself over, become the perfect woman for you.”
“You already are the perfect woman for me!” The deep growl of his voice sent shivers of desire through her body. She had to get out of this car soon or she would break all her vows.
“Ry…. You’re about to miss the turn-off for the restaurant.” The sight of their destination left her limp with relief. She knew Hank would help her diffuse this situation. At least she sorely hoped he would. He could be awfully difficult at times.
“This conversation, my dear, is far from over.”
Maybe,
she thought, but it’s over for today at least.
Chapter 2
Ry paced back and forth across his office. He’d never been so angry with another officer before in his entire career. “I can’t believe she said no! What kind of cop is she anyway?”
“You can’t argue with her reasoning, partner.”
Ry turned his angry glare on Hank. “Oh yes I can! Amy is not a police officer. She’s a civilian and she’s willing to risk her life. Tara is a cop and she not only refused, she tells me to risk Amy’s life.”
He still couldn’t believe it. Pieces of his conversation with Officer Tara Reynolds flowed through his memory in a red haze of anger.
“Would you put your precious doctor out there as a target Stevens?”
Psychotic SKIU Serial Page 2
